I at first read too quickly and, seeing “horsey” in today’s word, wondered if the word came from the notion of a rider on horse’s back. It doesn’t, of course, but the mis-image is a mnemonic.

phoresy – an association between two organisms in which one is carried on the body of the other, without being a parasite

Scientists have produced amazing three-dimensional images of a prehistoric mite as it hitched a ride on the back of a 50-million-year-old spider. The study sets a minimum age of almost 50 million years for the evolution among these mites of phoretic, or hitchhiking, behaviour using another animal species. Manchester biologist Dr Richard Preziosi said: "Phoresy is where one organism uses another animal of a different species for transportation to a new environment.". . .[B]arely visible to the naked eye, the mite -- trapped inside Baltic amber (fossil tree resin) -- is believed to be the smallest arthropod fossil ever to be scanned using X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning techniques.– ScienceDaily, Nov. 8, 2011 (ellipses omitted)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wordcrafter, November 13, 2011 20:06

Trauma surgeons soon will try plunging some critically injured people into a deep chill — cooling their body temperatures as low as 50 degrees — in hopes of saving their lives. Many trauma patients have injuries that should be fixable but they bleed to death before doctors can patch them up. The new theory: Putting them into extreme hypothermia just might allow them to survive without brain damage for about an hour so surgeons can do their work.– Associated Press, Nov. 14, 2011

piloerection – hair standing on endI’m not sure how this differs from horripilation.

In a dome-shaped outdoor cage, a dozen chimpanzees are hooting. The hair on their shoulders sticks straight up. “That’s piloerection,” a sign of emotional arousal, says Dr. Dana Hasselschwert, head of veterinary sciences … . She tells a visitor to keep his distance. The chimps tend to throw pebbles — or worse — when they get excited.– New York Times, Nov. 15, 2011

Today’s press misused a word. It should have said satrapy, not satrap.

satrapy – an area ruled over by a subordinate official; implies one given to tyranny or of ostentatious display

But as with so many of Burma's neighbors, the story behind this sudden rapprochement with the West may also include its deteriorating relationship with China. …. In recent years Beijing has treated Burma as a satrapy to be exploited for its natural resources. … China has a habit of treating its smaller neighbors, however accommodating, as vassal states.– Wall Street Journal, Nov. 21, 2011 (mis-usage corrected)

One thing I can say from experience (in the profession and not on the receiving end) is that it's no bowl of cherries having a heart transplant. However, at age 71, Cheney is older than most who receive heart transplants. The problem is that there are many more recipients than donors so selection of which patients receive hearts is an ethical one. I don't really agree with that article I linked to. From my experience (I used to work with transplant patients), the older patients have more comorbidity issues and do more poorly. I don't think Cheney would have received the transplant had he been a normal person.

I had to look up "comorbidity" and found it means "The coexistence of two or more disease processes". Or as I, being a non-medical man would have put it, "Older people tend to have more things wrong with them"

I wrote a limerick to define aging:

When aging a man calmly facesThe fact he'll no longer win races.But the bitterest pillIs he find that he stillGets stiff - but in all the wrong places.

My sister was showing me this article today, Munich Security Conference, and I came across the word illiberalism. I don't recall ever seeing that word before this article. My sister hadn't either. So, we looked it up.

"Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be at ease." ~from the Metta Sutta

From that site, I found this so embarrassing, being under the Trump regime and all:

quote:

Instead of waiting in fear of the next Trump tweet, we Europeans should lay the foundations for a Europe that is strong, capable of taking action, and committed to Western values," argues MSC chairman Wolfgang Ischinger in an...